THE FILM FESTIVAL IN VIENNA

Film Festival 2016 highlights

With 65 top productions from the world of opera, operetta, concerts, ballet and contemporary dance, pop and jazz, the city of Vienna once more offered a sparkling cultural pot-pourri in 2016, under Vienna’s starry skies.

Above all the sensation of the world’s first productions of the New York Metropolitan Opera at a public festival. Facilitated by a collaborations with Clasart Classic, celebrating the 10th anniversary of “Met Opera - HD Live” in 2016, Vienna Film Festival was able to offer guests this unique premiere with stars including Anna Netrebko as Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Željko Lucic as Rigoletto, Juan Diego Flórez as Comte Ory, Renée Fleming in The Merry Widow, Marcelo Álvarez in Cavalleria Rusticana / I Pagliacci, Liudmyla Monastyrska as Aida and Patricia Racette as the young geisha Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly.

The great musicians and conductors Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Yehudi Menuhin were absolute gems of the festival programme. This who’s-who of the music greats was rounded off by artists including James Blunt, Iggy Pop, Herbert Grönemeyer, Gregory Porter, ZAZ and Placebo. The performances were all an unforgettable experience, thanks to an impressive 300 m² screen, full HD and a dazzling sound system.

High level of service for high visitor satisfaction

The “Magic Sky” cover in the middle of Rathausplatz, and the Sun Sail, stretched over the catering stands and seating areas, provided plenty of protection from the bright sunshine, or rain. Visitors were also able to pay without cash at the food stands using credit and debit cards.

To make the event easier to enjoy for those with special requirements, the Festival was completely wheelchair accessible, with around 300 seats with an induction loop for guests with a hearing disability. The seating was designed so that there was plenty of room for a wheelchair at the start or end of every row. These features will now be a fixture at coming festivals.

Pleasure hotspot - Vienna Town Hall Square

The culinary range on offer was also first-rate once more. With 26 gourmet stands, the renowned company DO & CO provided a varied, sumptuous mix, offering visitors delightful, top quality treats from home and all over the world, every day from 11.00 to 24.00 hrs.

The Film Festival in Vienna’s Rathausplatz - that’s how wonderful summer can be!